Talent management: Not as easy as ABC

Source: Technology Digital

Date :20/06/2007 14:35:05

If you want to be the best, hire the best people; this mantra, beloved in boardrooms and business schools alike, has a compelling logic

If people are key resources, it stands to reason the better you have, the more effective you will be.

By Philip Stiles

A highly influential management book, Topgrading*, argues that firms should pursue an `A’ player strategy – only hire and develop outstanding people. The notion of the A player conforms to many organisations’ view of talent – talent management is a label applied to executives and high potential capabilities development. Famously it is claimed that Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, spends 50 percent of his time in nurturing the top 200 people in the firm (and knows them all by first name). At this rarefied level, individuals are expected to be exceptional performers and exemplify strong leadership and execution skills. Such a profile naturally makes these individuals hot properties who are very valuable in the marketplace; talent strategies are geared to their attraction and retention.

But do A players deliver? In a recent book by Stanford Professors Jeffery Pfeffer and Bob Sutton called Evidence-Based HR. They argue that an evidence-based approach shows that identifying A players is a very difficult process and even when selected, there is no guarantee that performing at an ‘A’ standard is possible over significant periods of time.

And what of B players? On some estimates this group accounts for 70 percent of the workforce – the solid performers who have strong firm-specific knowledge and are well attuned to the culture and values. In some companies, talent management stretches to cover this group too, but here the territory has few maps or landmarks. Continuous development and regular pay increases is about all the detail one sees. But evidence shows that B players provide the engine room of the firm and there is clear data that average individuals can be extremely productive – and can be made even better through coaching and development.

Talking of talent in terms of A, B and C has dangers in terms of labelling, the chief among them the potential for self -fulfilling prophecies – if you are labelled average, many individuals tend to live down to this judgement, whereas A players can become narcissistic and self-seeking.

Rather than focusing on individuals, a key source of effectiveness in talent management lies in the processes within the organisation. Strong teamwork, equitable rewards, minimal status differences and not too large a gap between the highest paid and the lowest are all factors well supported by data as bringing effective working to an organisation. The focus on A players alone is crude and outdated.

Dr Philip Stiles is Senior Lecturer in Corporate Governance at the University of Cambridge and works at the Judge Business School